Target hackers used stolen vendor credentials

Thursday, January 30, 2014 2:14 PM

The hackers who stole 40 million
credit- and debit-card numbers from Target Corp. appear to have breached the
discounter's systems by using credentials stolen from a vendor, MarketWatch reported. The
finding will help to start unraveling the riddle of how the software that
carried out the attack got into Target's systems. "We can confirm that the
ongoing forensic investigation has indicated that the intruder stole a vendor's
credentials, which were used to access our system," Target spokeswoman
Molly Snyder said. Target didn't say how the credentials were stolen or which
specific portal the hackers logged into. The company did say it has limited
access to some of its computer systems while the investigation proceeds.